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Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.
The Pandemic Sessions: Duos, Pt. 1
by Mark Corroto
After the initial shock of the COVID-19 crisis and subsequent lockdown, artists did what artists do. Unable to tour, many musicians created solo projects. Musicians, like other sentient beings though, crave contact, so when some of the most severe restrictions lifted, duos were formed and production returned. These small positive steps (note: some were recorded before the pandemic) are a glimmer of hope for a return to normalcy. Michael And Peter Formanek Dyads Out Of ...
read moreWayne Krantz: Music Room 1985
by Mike Jacobs
When it comes to lost recordings, unpublished novels or newly unearthed art of any sort, receptions tend to be somewhat mixed. This may be because, in many cases, those responsible for these works are usually dead and/or mythologized to a degree, so the expectational ante gets upped accordingly. Also involved--and perhaps more important--is the ability (or inability) to receive them in their proper context years after the fact. Which is why one of the nicer aspects of Wayne ...
read moreTim Mayer: Keeper of the Flame
by Jack Bowers
On Keeper of the Flame, Tim Mayer, a Bostonian who now calls Mexico home, leads a sharp, swinging group of like-minded amigos on a (mostly) octet studio date enriched by Diego Rivera's colorful arrangements. Mayer plays tenor sax on half a dozen tracks, soprano sax on “Bye Bye Blackbird" and “Get Organized," alto flute on “Elusive." Mayer's tenor spans a bridge from early John Coltrane to George Coleman, Joe Henderson, Bob Mintzer and other post-bop patriarchs with a dash of ...
read moreMelanie Charles, Leo Sidran, Irène Schweizer, Ofentse Moses Sebula & Other New Releases
by Ludovico Granvassu
Leo Sidran and Kat Edmonson's latest single introduce the Art of Conversation in jazz. Irène Schweizer & Hamid Drake, and Javier Santiago & Melanie Charles continue it as a dialogue; Keith Brown and Garage a Trois as a trialougue; Dina Ramirez, Roberto Negro, Erik Fratzke as a quadralogue; Jacques Schwarz-Bart, Makram Aboul Hosn, Ofentse Moses Sebula and Little Rosies Kindergarten as a much larger exchange. But, in all cases, it's the result of deep listening and openness that gives rise ...
read moreTransforming A Popular Song
by Matthew Sweeney
One of the most transformative experiences in my life happened while drifting around the Museum of Modern Art in New York a few years ago, standing in awe before Picasso's Seated Woman, one of the many “portraits" of his mistress Marie-Therese Walter. I was astounded at the huge discrepancy between her photograph, which was displayed along with the portrait's descriptive text, and his breath-taking interpretation of her presence in that painting. What kind of genius does it take to transform ...
read moreBerta Moreno Afro-Jazz Soul Project: Tumaini
by Troy Dostert
Tenor saxophonist Berta Moreno released her promising debut, Little Steps, in 2017. It signaled her debt to forbears such as Wayne Shorter and Joe Henderson, and displayed an impressive command of bop language. Tumaini, her engaging follow-up, moves in a rather different direction. Time well-spent in Kenya gave Moreno a wider focus for her compositions, as she adroitly melds jazz, R&B and Afro-Latin idioms into an enjoyable musical synthesis. “Tumaini" is a Swahili word for “hope," and there ...
read moreMiles Davis, Bill Laswell, John McLaughlin, Bob Berg, Kai Eckhardt and more
by Len Davis
On today's program we feature music from a live concert from Warsaw with Miles Davis, Jack DeJohnette, plus John McLaughlin and Jimmy Herring from a live concert in San Francisco and Larry Coryell, Victor Bailey and Lenny White. Playlist Miles Davis “Hopscotch" from Live in Poland Warsaw 1983 (Gambit) 00:00 Jack DeJohnette “Miles" from Music for the Fifth World (Manhattan) 08:58 Bill Laswell-Tony Williams “Illuminator" from Arc of the Testimony MOD Reloaded) 17:54 John McLaughlin-Jimmy Herring “Trilogy" from ...
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